Læknaneminn - 01.11.1965, Page 20

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LÆKNANEMINN
Sowntharaleela Kandiah, stud. med.:
Trip to Iceland
When did I first hear of Iceland
. . . . After five years stay in this
part of the world, I went home
to Malaysia for my last summer
vacation. In the course of con-
versation, I was telling an old
family doctor about my keenness
to travel around a bit before I re-
turned home finally to settle down.
In a teasing manner he said, ,,Oh!
You want to travel, how about
going to Iceland.“ He mentioned
Iceland as in Malaysia, little is
known about Iceland and it is
more or iess considered to be
“lands end”. That’s when I first
heard of Iceland and it aroused my
keenness to see Iceland. Besides,
I took his suggestion as a challenge
and was determined to get there
some day.
My ideas of Iceland.... As I
am a student in Dublin, Ireland,
most of the ideas I had of Iceland
was given to me by the Irish
people. My own ideas were very
little — I imagined the place to
be what the name suggested, the
land of ice. And how mistaken I
am. The Irish ideas are no better.
They told me how cold it is in Ice-
land, probably covered with snow
even in the summer time. I was
advised to bring my warmest
clothes, even a “hot jar” to warm
my bed at nights and my snow
boots. I brought them all and I
am glad to say I did not need it
at all.
There were other surprises
waiting for me besides the “warm
climate”. The people were very
nice indeed. Their kindness and
hospitality moved my heart.
Everywhere I went, I met with
warm welcomes. My Irish friends
got offended when I told them
that I have never met such hospi-
tality in my life before. I dis-
covered that the Icelandic people
did not like too many tourists to
overrun their country. Now I can
see why. Besides feeling the
intrusion into their privacy, they
would also like to be friendly and
extend their hospitality to one and
all. This would not be possible if
there were far too many visitors.
Coming from a land where
forests of trees are a common
sight, I was surprised to find so
few in Iceland. But it made a
change for me and I was able to
see the landscape from the car or
bus without having to strain my
neck or climb to the tree-top. The
Irish people are very proud of the
forty different shades of green
seen on the mountains of Wicklow.
Iceland presents just as many
shades and the view is always so
clear. The land is so beautifuí and
the bad roads did not deter my
intention to see as much of the
country as possible. I found Akur-
eyri a very interesting place and
the people were most kind. The
visit to the place was worth the
eleven hour journey by bus along
the bad roads. Though the roads
were bad, the homes and apart-
ments in the city were very
modern. The homes were beautifuí.
The cost of living in Iceland is so